Bumper guard for aluminum siding

ABSTRACT

A bumper guard for protecting aluminum siding from damage. Aluminum siding consists of a plurality of aluminum members fixed to an exterior wall of a building and at least one of the aluminum members has a bumper guard which extends beyond the outermost edge of the member. A bumper guard is also attached to the outermost edge of an aluminum gutter, which gutter is attached adjacent to an edge of the roof of the building, to prevent the gutter from being dented by a ladder which may be placed thereagainst.

ilnited States Patent 1.

Sablom, Jr.

BUMPER GUARD FOR ALUMINUM SlDlNG inventor: Louis RP10111 J1' 11V111 1011, NJ.

Assignee: S. K. A. S. S. Associates Ltd.,

Loch Sheldrake, N.Y.

Filed: Nov. 5, 1971 Appl. No.: 195,910

U.S. Cl 52/624, 52/11, 52/547, 52/716 Int. Cl E04d 13/00, E04c 2/38, E04f 19/02 Field of Search 52/288, 11, 24, 312, 52/417, 547, 551, 556, 469, 624, 716; 248/3451, 48.1, 48.2; 49/460, 462, 475, 490;

References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 12/1967 Youssi et a1. 52/127 X 11/1961 Adell 49/462 2/1970 Kunevicius.... 52/716 X 11/1933 Jelliffe 248/345.l X 10/1938 Mooshian 52/547 July 10, 1973 3,680,903 8/1972 Hulten 52/716 X FORElGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 253,525 8/1964 Australia 61/15 1,938,900 2/ 1971 Germany 49/490 Primary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott Assistant Examiner-John R. Masterman Attorney-Morris Kirschstein, Peter T. Cobrin et a1.

57 ABSTRACT A bumper guard for protecting aluminum siding from damage. Aluminum siding consists of a plurality of aluminum members fixed to an exterior wall of a building and at least one of the aluminum members has a bumper guard which extends beyond the outermost edge of the member. A bumper guard is also attached to the outermost edge of an aluminum gutter, which gutter is attached'adjacent to an edge of the roof of the building, to prevent the gutter from being dented by a ladder which may be placed thereagainst.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 BUMPER GUARD FOR ALUMINUM SIDING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to bumper guards for protecting the exterior of a building, and more particularly to bumper guards for protecting the outermost edge of at least one aluminum siding member, which member is fixed to an exterior of the building.

2. Description of the Prior Art Present frame homes have either shingle or cedar shake exteriors. The shingle exteriors require expensive painting every few years and the cedar shake material requires special lacquering every few years. Due to the expensive maintenance of these exterior materials, the exteriors of many homes are now being remodeled so as to have aluminum siding placed over the shingle and cedar shake. Aluminum siding is rust-proof and weather-resistant, and therefore does not require the maintenance that the above exterior materials require, so that in the long run the installation of aluminum siding is more economical than the cost of the continuous maintenance of the above exterior materials.

However, present aluminum siding has a tendency to dent rather easily upon impact. Thus, if a car is parked adjacent the building and the car door is swung open so as to contact the side of the aluminum siding, that part of the siding will be damaged. Likewise, if an object such as a stepladder is placed alongside the house, the siding may tend to be damaged. Also, if doors to the home are swung open too far, further damage may result to the siding. Still further, if the windows of the home have shutters which move due to the wind, the shutters will tend to dent the siding. Even further, if a light branch of a tree should fall alongside the house, the siding may be further dented.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to a broad aspect of the invention, there is provided in combination a bumper guard and a member, said member being firmly attached to an outer wall of a building, said member having an outermost edge, said bumper guard being fixed to said member adjacent to the outermost edge thereof and extending beyond the outermost edge so as to protect said member.

A feature of the invention provides that said member is an aluminum siding.

A further feature of the invention provides that said bumper guard has a head and a shank extending from the head, said head extending beyond the outermost edgepf said member.

In still a further feature of the invention said bumper guard extends parallel to the outermost edge of said member.

A still further feature of the invention provides that the shank of said bumper guard is fastened to a side of said member, which side is adjacent the outermost edge portion of the shank adjacent the side of said member contains pressure sensitive adhesive for fastening said bumper guard to said member.

A still additional feature of the invention provides that a portion of an undersurface of the head of said bumper guard adjacent a face of said member, which face is adjacent the outermost edge of said member, contain pressure sensitive adhesive so as to fasten said bumper guard to said member.

Another additional feature of the invention provides that the outermost portion of the head of said bumper is curved. A further additional feature of the invention provides that said member is an aluminum gutter which is fastened adjacent to an edge ofa roof of the building.

Still another additional feature of the invention provides that an outer portion of the cross section of the head of said bumper guard is in the form of a segment of a circle.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a protective molding for an aluminum siding member, said molding having a head and a shank extending from the head, a base portion of the head being positioned adjacent the outermost edge of the member, and the shank being fixed to a side of the member adjacent the outermost edge thereof, the head of said molding extending outwardly beyond the outermost edge of the aluminum siding member so as to provide protection for the aluminum siding member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the bumper guards attached to respective aluminum siding members;

- FIG. 2 is an exploded partial perspective view of the fastening of the bumper guard to the aluminum siding member and the means for fastening the member to the outer wall of the house.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the bumper guard wherein part of the surface thereof contains pressure sensitive adhesive for fastening the bumper guard to the aluminum siding;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a house wherein some of the aluminum siding members are shown to be containing bumper guards; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded section view of the bumper guard attached to the aluminum gutter shown in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 20 fastened thereto so as to protect the outermost edge 22 of siding member 18 from being dented. The siding members themselves are fastened to the exterior of a building structure and in this example the exterior of the building structure contains wooden member 24 which is fastened to underlying wooden members 26 and 28. Wooden member 26 and 28 are fastened to wooden section 30, which section is in turn fastened to plywood section 32. Plywood section 32 is in turn fastened to wall 34.

The fastening of bumper guard 12 to siding member and the means for fastening siding member 10 to the exterior of the building structure are more clearly shown in the exploded view of FIG. 2. Since siding member 10 is shown to be the bottommost member of the building structure, a plate 36 which simulates the top portion of the siding member, must first be fastened to the underlying wooden member 38 (shown in FIG. 1). Plate 36 contains holes 40 therein for receiving respective screws or nails 42 which screws or nails fasten plate 36 to wooden member 38. Plate 36 contains a V- shaped groove 44 for receiving a lip 46 of siding member 10. After lip 46 of siding member 10 is fit within groove 44, the top section 48 of siding member 10 is fastened via a screw or nail 55 and hole 52 in top section 48 to underlying wooden section 24 (shown in 7 FIG. 1), and of course the upper section 48 of siding member 10 in turn contains a similar V-shaped groove 54 for receiving a corresponding lip of siding member 18. In this example, bumper guard 12 which is comprised of a head 56 and a shank 58 extending from the base of the head, is fastened to the bottom side 60 of siding member 10 by using a self-tapping screw 62 which fits through hole 64 in bumper guard 12 and taps a hole 66 through side 60 of member 10. It should be noted that face 68 of shank 58 and underside 70 of head 56 are so contoured in shape as to fit flush against respective side 60 and face 72 of siding member 10. Bumper guard 12 actually extends parallel to the outermost edge 14 of siding member 10, and head 56 of bumper guard 12 extends sufficiently outward from outermost edge 14 so as to receive the brunt of the impact with any object that might otherwise directly contact siding member 10, thereby avoiding the unnecessary denting of siding member 10. As shown in this example also, the outermost surface 74 of head 56 is curved and the outermost portion of the cross-section of the head is actually in the form of a segment of a circle.

As shown in the side section view of FIG. 3, undersurface 70 of head 56 and face 68 of shank 58 contain respective coatings 74 and 76 of pressure sensitive adhesive material. It should be understood that both coatings 74 and 76 can be present, or either one of coatings 74 and 76 may only be present. Coatings 74 and 76 in this example may serve as an alternate means for fastening bumper guard 12 to siding member 10 by simply pressing underside 70 of head 56 and face 68 of shank 58 against corresponding respective face 72 and side 60 of siding member 10.

Bumper guard 12 should be made of resilient impactresistant material which is weather-resistant and can be comprised of a rubber material or an elastomeric plastic material. Suitable plastic materials, which can be formed by either molding or extrusion and function at a temperature range of -40 F. to at least +1 80 F., are Cycolac ABS resin sold by the Marbon Chemical Division of Borg-Warner Corporation and Lustran ABS 740 sold by Monsanto. Not only does bumper guard 12 serve a protective purpose, but it can also serve a decorative function by manufacturing the guards in various colors which may tend to enhance the overall appearance of the outer structure of a building. In fact, these bumper guards could be made so attractive that one may so decide that every siding member have a corresponding bumper guard.

A house 78 whose outer structure contains siding members of a type referred to above is shown in FIG. 4. The bottommost siding member 10 is shown to contain bumper guard 12 which is adjacent concrete foundation 16. In this example, the purpose which bumper guard 12 serves is to protect the outermost edge of the siding member from being dented by the opening of a door which is attached to an adjacent parked car or a door 80 of the house itself. Other bumper guards 82, 84 and 86 may be suitably positioned on certain members so as to protect the siding members from being dented by the movement of adjacent window shutters 88. Fur thermore, a bumper guard 90 may be placed on suitable siding members so as to provide support for a ladder, while at the same time preventing the siding members from becoming dented by the weight of the ladder.

While the siding members referred to above are actually in this example aluminum siding members, it is to be understood that siding members could be made of other suitable material which is susceptible to denting and to damage from impact from the objects described above and even from light falling branches. Alternatively bumper guard 91 can also be attached to an aluminum gutter 92 which gutter in turn is attached adjacent to the edge of roof 94 of house 78 as shown in FIG. 4. In this instance, bumper guard 91 has a symmetrically shaped head 96 and a shank 97 extending therefrom as shown in FIG. 5. Shank 97 can be fastened to side 98 of aluminum gutter 92, by similar bonding or screwing arrangements as previously described above. By having head 96 of bumper guard 91 extend beyond edge 99 of aluminum gutter 92, bumper guard 91 serves to prevent aluminum gutter 92 from being dented when a ladder, which normally would rest against the outermost edge 99 of aluminum gutter 92, now rest against head 96 ofbumper guard 91.

It is thus seen that there is provided a bumper guard for aluminum members which achieves the several objects of the invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments set forth above, it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the invention, there is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

1. Apparatus for preventing aluminum siding on a building from being damaged comprising a building, said building having a plurality of upright walls, at least one of said walls having aluminum siding on the exterior surface thereof, said aluminum siding including a plurality of adjacent aluminum siding members, each aluminum siding member including an external surface which is inclined towards the building in an upwards vertical direction, each aluminum siding member further including an inwardly extending surface which is transverse to the wall and extends inwardly from the bottom of said external surface toward said wall, an edge located at the intersection of said inwardly extending surface and said external surface and being substantially parallel to the ground, said aluminum siding including a first aluminum siding member, a rubbery bumper guard including a shank which has an upper surface, said bumper guard positioned with said shank upper surface in contact with the inwardly extending surface of the first aluminum siding member, said bumper guard further including a head having a rear portion which is in contact with the bottom of said external surface of said first aluminum siding member adjacent the edge at the lower portion thereof, said bumper guard head projecting outwardly from said first aluminum siding member, means securing said bumper guard in the aforementioned position relative to said first aluminum siding member whereby said bumper guard serves to protect said first aluminum siding member from being dented due to foreign bodies hitting said first aluminum siding member.

2. Apparatus accordingto claim 1 wherein said securing means includes screws for fastening the shank of said bumper guard to said first aluminum siding memher.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said screws are self-tapping.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said securing means includes pressure sensitive means for securing said bumper guard to said first aluminum siding member.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the outermost portion of said bumper guard head is curved.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said curved portion of said bumper guard head is in the form of a segment of a circle.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a further bumper guard is provided, said further bumper guard being identical to said bumper guard, said aluminum siding including a second aluminum siding member and said further bumper guard secured to said second alu- I minum siding member in the same manner that said bumper guard is secured to said first aluminum siding member. 

1. Apparatus for preventing aluminum siding on a building from being damaged comprising a building, said building having a plurality of upright walls, at least one of said walls having aluminum siding on the exterior surface thereof, said aluminum siding including a plurality of adjacent aluminum siding members, each aluminum siding member including an external surface which is inclined towards the building in an upwards vertical direction, each aluminum siding member further including an inwardly extending surface which is transverse to the wall and extends inwardly from the bottom of said external surface toward said wall, an edge located at the intersection of said inwardly extending surface and said external surface and being substantially parallel to the ground, said aluminum siding including a first aluminum siding member, a rubbery bumper guard including a shank which has an upper surface, said bumper guard positioned with said shank upper surface in contact with the inwardly extending surface of the first aluminum siding member, said bumper guard further including a head having a rear portion which is in contact with the bottom of said external surface of said first aluminum siding member adjacent the edge at the lower portion thereof, said bumper guard head projecting outwardly from said first aluminum siding member, means securing said bumper guard in the aforementioned position relative to said first aluminum siding member whereby said bumper guard serves to protect said first aluminum siding member from being dented due to foreign bodies hitting said first aluminum siding member.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said securing means includes screws for fastening the shank of said bumper guard to said first aluminum siding member.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said screws are self-tapping.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said securing means includes pressure sensitive means for securing said bumper guard to said first aluminum siding member.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the outermost portion of said bumper guard head is curved.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said curved portion of said bumper guard head is in the form of a segment of a circle.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a further bumper guard is provided, said further bumper guard being identical to said bumper guard, said aluminum siding including a second aluminum siding member and said further bumper guard secured to said second aluminum siding member in the same manner that said bumper guard is secured to said first aluminum siding member. 